Tax-free weekend is same for first time

In years past, Georgia held its sales tax holiday weekend later in August, usually a few days (or several days) after school started around here, which is like getting your 6 a.m. wake-up alarm at 8 a.m. Not exactly useful.

But South Carolina did it before school started, which prompted this family to pile into the van and hit the stores in Aiken County for school clothes and backpacks. And we were joined by a lot of our Georgia brethren, judging by the license plates in the parking lots.

Because the sales tax holidays for both states is on the same weekend this year (starting Friday), it will cut down on the travel time in order to get clothes and pencils this year and save 7 percent at check out.

Probably a lot of store managers on the Georgia side of the river will have a more pleasant back-to-school shopping season with the heaviest shopping days before school starts, not after.

Bravo, state government, for finally figuring this out.

NEW OWNER: Word came through e-mail that Adams Development Co. LLC bought the 6-acre Deans Bridge Industrial Park.

The 89,994-square-foot industrial/flex park is at 3105 Spring Grove Drive in south Augusta and has nine buildings.

Adams plans to renovate, improving the landscaping and upgrading the security.

Captain D’s franchisee evaluating remodels at the rest of his Augusta locations.

Earnings: Cabela’s reports $43 million profit for second quarter

#Augusta metro unemployment rate went from 6.9 percent in May to 7.4 percent in June.

NEW JOB SITE: If you search for jobs using the Augusta Chronicle’s jobs site, you noticed something different this week – AugustaJobs.com is new. One caveat of the snazzy new site is that if you had a résumé on the old one, you’ll need to reload it.